Creative Cities Network

CLT/CEI/CID/2008/RP/66
01/11//2006

Towards
Sustainable
Strategies
for
Creative
Tourism
Discussion Report of the
Planning Meeting for 2008 International
Conference on Creative Tourism
Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A.
October 25-27, 2006

Decision and action items

The network will begin convening themed annual meetings:

- September 2007 Creativity and Gastronomy, Popayan
- Autumn 2008 Creativity and Tourism, (International Conference) Santa Fe
- 2009 (to be determined)

Efforts will be made to secure a global business sponsor

Creative Cities Network Website will be further developed

Media and PR will be pursued for Creative Cities Network activities and events

A Contact Matrix (Address Book) will be developed

Recognition Awards for creative policies will be developed

The Network will present at the Global Conference on Tourism in Popoyan, Colombia in
December 2007

Meeting Summary
A gathering of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network was convened in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Representatives from six of the nine Creative Cities participated in the meeting, which was organized by the City of Santa Fe, Creative Santa Fe, and Recursos. Toby Herzlich facilitated the discussions, of which this report is a summary.
The purpose of the meeting was to:

Develop the network of creative cities

Dene Creative Tourism

Begin planning for an International Conference on Creative Tourism, to be held in 2008 in

Santa Fe
Who are we as Creative Cities?
Following opening remarks and a keynote speech by Hayes Lewis, from the IAIA Center for Lifelong Learning, the group began discussions to get to know each other and start thinking together
about their role as creative cities. They participated in a conversation caf, a rotating small
group conversation, focused on three questions:

What does being a Creative City mean to you and your community?

Tell us stories about being a creative city

What is your city currently doing that helps tourists interface with artists and other creative
practitioners?
A summary discussion brought out several key points. Delegates felt that creativity is central to
the character of their cities, one remarking that it is part of our DNA. Their survival as a city depends on maximizing this creativity and constantly innovating.
Delegates felt that it is important that the local community is involved and bought in to the idea of
creative tourism. In order for the tourist to feel a part of the city, the community must know and be
proud of what they have, and be willing to cultivate local enterprises that share the experience.
Denition of Creative Tourism
Delegates discussed the meaning of creative tourism, emphasizing that it includes more access
to culture or history (less museums, more squares), involves doing something experientially, and
an authentic engagement in the real cultural life of the city.
Creative Tourism is considered to be a new generation of tourism. One participant described
his perspective that the rst generation was beach tourism, in which people come to a place for
relaxation and leisure; the second was cultural tourism, oriented toward museums and cultural
tours. Creative Tourism involves more interaction, in which the visitor has an educational, emotional, social, and participative interaction with the place, its living culture, and the people who live
there. They feel like a citizen. This third generation requires that managers also evolve, recognizing the creativity within their city as a resource, and providing new opportunities to meet the
evolving interests of tourists.
While creative tourism must be linked to culture, the particular cultural expressions will be unique
to each place. For example, the group discussed low-rider cars as being a cultural expression of
northern New Mexico, and tango dancing as being particular to Buenos Aires.

After signicant conversation, the group adopted Santa Fes working denition of creative tourism:
Creative tourism is travel directed toward an engaged and authentic experience, with participative learning in the arts, heritage, or special character of a place, and it provides a connection with
those who reside in this place and create this living culture.
Enhancing the economy through creative tourism
A presentation was made by Tom Aageson about the economic impacts of cultural industries in
Santa Fe. Afterward, the group discussed ways that they see to enhance their own economies
through creative tourism.
Some of the ideas were:

Develop and create more homegrown creative people and unique products

Generate new jobs in the creative tourism sector

Guides

Transportation jobs

Local craftspeople

Hosts

Community economic development and infrastructure development

Strengthen policies that support development of creative tourism.

There are responsibilities for both the public and private sectors. The public sector must
create an enabling environment, through tax incentives, access to loans and nance, and
training. The private sector is responsible for their own self-promotion, articulating the in
tangibles, and networking themselves around shared problems.

Focus on quality. Do not increase demand by lowering the price.

Public sector authorities can coordinate what exists in the city and build synergy between
public and private initiatives. Promote quality and excellence. Coordinate with a city-wide
calendar.

Use creative tourism to attract people interested in urban renovation

Buenos Aires will develop more interactive opportunities around music, dance, food,
design

Bologna organized an opera tour to Japan, then the following year sold tickets in Tokyo
for their own season in Bologna, attracting Japanese tourists who already had developed a
relationship with the city.
Creating a vision for the network: What is possible, as individual cities and collectively,
through our collaboration?
The group developed ideas and then grouped them into a shared vision.
In 10 years, we envision

Exchanges among cities of expertise, cultural treasures, and best practices

Packaging and joint promotion of authentic local products and creative offerings

A growing network of creative cities, efciently managed and coordinated

Annual network meetings, rotating among cities, with a thematic focus and creative
industry sponsors

Cities are building local creative industries and developing local creative history curricula

Our work results in innovative local solutions for poverty, environmental sustainability, and
other difcult global issues

What can we put in place in the next 2-3 years to advance creative tourism and out
network?
Focusing on specic, tangible outcomes, the delegates agreed to six 2-3 year objectives and next
steps:
1.
Annual meetings of the Creative Cities Network
Each meeting will have a thematic focus (creativity and) and will be linked to existing events
in sponsoring cities. The meetings are an opportunity for exchange among the creative cities
network members, including a broader range of people from each city (entrepreneurs, administrators, media, artists) who are involved in the specic thematic creative industry.
2007: May 14-15 in Paris, in coordination with the Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity forum.
Technical meeting for the Creative Cities Network, focusing on establishing structural elements
and coordination strategy (recommendations from this meetings assignments regarding the contact matrix, recognition program, and enhanced website)
September, 2007 in Popayan, Colombia. A two-day Creative Cities Network meeting in
coordination with the Gastronomy Congress. Cities will send their own chefs and others with interests related to Gastronomy. (Will be further researched by Guillermo and conrmed within one
month)
2008: Autumn in Santa Fe, International Conference on Creative Tourism.
2009: Select topic and location at May 2007 meeting
Seek out sponsorship at a global scale with three-year support. Appeal to business leaders, such
as Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Atlantic.
2.
Contact Matrix Structure (address book)
In order to facilitate communication and exchange among the Creative Cities Network, a structure
will be developed that identies a key liaison along with ten additional people to serve as a core
group. People of all creative disciplines will be designated for each city, with contact information
that can easily be updated. Candidate cities will also be considered.
3.
Recognition Awards to Showcase Creative Policies
A peer review process will be established in which the Creative Cities Network recognizes cities,
both within and outside of the network, who are developing innovative policies for economic development and social benet (the example used was a program that uses amenco dancing for
prisoner rehabilitation). The recognition program will be linked with the annual meetings. This
program will take several years to get fully in place, and will start by recognizing and showcasing
existing awards.
4.
Network Website
An enhanced website will be developed that links to each citys website, but sets a bigger context.
The website will explore such questions as What is creativity? What is a creative city?. It will
include an overall calendar, a marketplace in which products can be sold, and information about
meetings, recognitions awards, and other Creative Cities Network activities.
5.

Media and PR

Actvities and accomplishments of the Creative Cities Network should be highlighted as much as
possible through media stories and PR. This task involves developing stories and messaging
around creative cities events, inuencing both the cultural press and the business press.
6.
Leadership and Coordination
The network will have a light structure for coordination, with key liaisons in each city as well as
a group of about 10 who are core members of the network in each city, representing a range of
creative industries. Communication will happen via a web connection, email, blogs, and UNESCO.
More structured leadership will be organized around events or activities, with 3-5 operational leaders in one city for a specic event hosted by that city.
International Conference on Creative Tourism
Delegates brainstormed ideas for the 2008 International Conference on Creative Tourism, which
will be held in Santa Fe and organized by the Santa Fe representatives. The following are ideas
to serve as a starting place for conference design:
Objective and purpose: What is creative tourism? and why does it make sense?

Examples of success

Benets to the local communities

Good practices
Discover a new frontier of tourismCreative Cities Network
Guidelines
DO:

Make it experiential both with local Santa Fe offerings and examples imported from
other places. Showcase experiences.
Include provocative speakers that open up new frontiers of thinking
Emphasize innovation. Each participant should leave with new ideas and new ways
of thinking
Concentrate on creative tourism in these creative cities, and bring in additional expertise
from the outside.
Maximize interactivity. Have a plenary of 2-3 speakers each day, with lots of time for
smaller group interactions
Create different tracks for different levels of expertise
Offer optional creative activities in the evenings
Balance and link strategic/academic talks with real cases include both large and small
case study examples to illustrate different aspects of the same idea
Focus and align program elements with conference topic
Consider the language issues people should be able to express themselves in their own
language

DONT:

Have talking heads, redundant and boring, with no substance

Overload with speakers and too much sitting

Confuse people with last-minute changes to the schedule

Over-emphasize too many local examples

Encourage side negotiations

Have too many participants or invite the wrong people

Trap people in the hotel and not allow them to get outside

Who should be there?

A core group from each of 20-30 UNESCO Creative Cities, all coming together and wor
king together. Delegations from each city would include public and private sector
representatives:

Administrators

Tourism industry organizations

Tour operators and other entrepreneurs

Academics

Media
These people will have homework to do research around the industry, information-gathering
around their own creative resources, etc. This core group will present experiences, practices,
papers, ideas

General public Santa Fe citizens should have access to some general sessions
Tourism professionals and media from around the world, to learn and make presentations
Others invited to help expand the understanding and practice of creative tourism, and to
expose the broader world to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network
Each group has a different color of badge

Agenda Development:

One year prior Santa Fe articulates the main theme of the Conference
(present in Colombia, Sept 2007), which will be the focus of plenary sessions
Six months ahead cities propose speed networking sessions, which are posted on the
website for people to register
Three months ahead proposals are selected based on registration interest
During the conference, convene a mini-caucus for the Creative Cities delegates
from each city.

Needs:

Data to appeal to different levels (tour operators, city administrators, academics). Involve
the World Tourism Organization.
Commission market research study and present ndings at the conference.
Each city must do its own homework identify 2-3 creative tourism entrepreneurs and
bring together the local community around creative tourism. Have a planning session like
this meeting to engage the community and determine which local offerings to highlight at
the international conference.

Funding Issues:

Costs include putting on the conference and travel expenses. Can cities raise their own
travel budgets?
Can Santa Fe arrange hotel sponsorships?
Charge a fee for the conference, but not for the red badges (Creative Cities delegates).
Secure scholarships for local creative entrepreneurs
Secure a combination of revenue sources: local and state funding; registration fees, busi
ness sponsors (contributors to support the program, booth exhibitors, tech sponsors)

Reection and evaluation of the meeting

What worked?

Good facilitation helped us grow our connection with each other and our understanding
Discovering the connections among our network
Moving around and seeing different parts of the community
Engaged conversation
Professional local planning team
Good connections with local sponsors
Cooking class

What could be improved next time?

Clarify expectations around food let people know this reception is your dinner
Provide an opportunity for delegates to have a quiet dinner together early in the program